Making a Difference

“It won’t matter if I skip this meeting.”

“I’m so tired; they won’t miss me if I don’t show up.”

“I can save time by just sending an email instead of a note. “

These are all words that we utter now and then.

They are the ways we excuse ourselves from completely being our word, telling ourselves that it won’t matter. It’s the excuse that we use to back out participating, being seen, and maybe being judged.

We never stop to think about the opportunities we miss by thinking and behaving this way.

You do know that opportunities show up when we least expect them. If we aren’t present, we miss them and aren’t even aware of the miss.

I heard a story yesterday about an engineer named Gary who was asked to hire someone for a temporary drafting position. A business friend had called to make the request. His friend vouched for the candidate, and Gary took him at his word and hired the fellow.

Everything worked out. The employment contract came to an end, the work was done well, and the engineer went back to his life, no longer needing the temp.

Years later, Gary’s phone rang. The phone showed the call coming from somewhere in Texas. Fortunately, it was before all the robocalls started, and he answered it.

The voice on the other end was that of the draftsman he had taken a chance on hiring.

The man identified himself and then told him what that employment meant. He told him: “You saved my life. You took a chance on me when I couldn’t believe in myself and showed me that I had value when I had stopped believing in myself.”

The engineer was shocked. He had no idea that he made such a difference in someone’s life. He was amazed by the power of the ordinariness of it and the magnitude of the impact.

We don’t necessarily need to know the difference we make. Life will go on if we don’t. It is an amazing experience to be told of something you did that changed someone’s life.

Once you understand that you have this superpower, you begin to increase your levels of awareness, listening, and ability to be present because making a life-changing difference is pretty magnetic.

Once you learn that every single person has this ability, your life changes forever. You’re going to want more.

So, next time you are tempted to back out of that meeting, next time you tell a friend that you are too busy to meet, next time you miss the opportunity to say thank you – remember your superpower.

Remember that this might be that opportunity, cloaked in the costume of the ordinary. Remember, there are many things you don’t know and many opportunities that may change more than one life.

You can be the bridge with the hand holding up another in a moment of need.

The chance that is before you here is to decide who you are as a person. The challenge is to be, do, and say all the things that align with your definition, and even bigger than that is to stay with that idea and act on it every day.